A Russian internet company with links to the Kremlin was among the firms to which Facebook gave an extension which allowed them to collect data on unknowing users of the social network after a policy change supposedly stopped such collection.

Facebook told CNN on Tuesday that apps developed by the Russian technology conglomerate Mail.Ru Group, were being looked at as part of the company's wider investigation into the misuse of Facebook user data in light of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Facebook told CNN that the Mail.Ru Group developed hundreds of Facebook apps, some of which were test apps that were not made public. Only two apps were granted an extension, lasting two weeks, that would have allowed them to collect friend data beyond the cut-off date, Facebook said.

Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement to CNN that Facebook's relationship with Mail.Ru deserved further scrutiny.

"In the last 6 months we've learned that Facebook had few controls in place to control the collection and use of user data by third parties. Now we learn that the largest technology company in Russia, whose executives boast close ties to Vladimir Putin, had potentially hundreds of apps integrated with Facebook, collecting user data. If this is accurate, we need to determine what user information was shared with mail.ru and what may have been done with the captured data," Warner said.

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Prior to 2015, in some cases, when Facebook users interacted with the apps built by third-party developers on Facebook, the developer not only received data about that user, but also about the users' friends — including name, gender, birthdate, location, photos, and what they "liked" on Facebook.

In 2014 Facebook announced it was changing the policy, and would restrict developers' access to data on app users' friends by May 2015.

But two weeks ago, Facebook told Congress that it gave 61 companies, including Mail.Ru, an extension on access to the data beyond May 2015. The admission came in a list of written answers Facebook provided to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Ime Archibong, Facebook's vice president of partnerships, told CNN on Tuesday that Facebook had not found any evidence that the Mail.Ru Group had misused Facebook user data, but acknowledged that the investigation is continuing and would not answer if Facebook even has the ability to determine how the Russian company used data derived from Facebook.

Having the benefit of hindsight, do you regret anything?

What have you learned from the experience, then?
I must apply myself, even when I have no energy. I must find some sort of magic within me no matter what, and push through at all costs for what I believe in and for what I love. I was not prepared, and I’m a very prepared person. I’m a very strategized person, and in that moment I lost all control, so for moments like that I’ve learned to embrace my perfectionistic qualities and to see them more as an asset, to make sure that I’m always prepared… and to always live in the moment and realize what I have in front of me.

What have you learned from the experience, then?

It’s interesting that one of Michelle’s critiques for your performance in the challenge was that you actually seemed unprepared. Did you get any inclination that you were filming
that
bad of a pilot?
On that set, it was a really fun time. Me and Nina Bo’Nina Brown had a great time. The whole production crew was laughing. I find, perhaps, it was more comical in the sense that they were laughing at us and not with us.

It’s interesting that one of Michelle’s critiques for your performance in the challenge was that you actually seemed unprepared. Did you get any inclination that you were filming
that
bad of a pilot?

You actually haven’t been doing drag for as long as some of these other queens, right? Why do you think it comes so natural to you?
It’s my love and passion for the arts. I’ve been studying performing arts since I was 11 years old. The stage is a natural place for me. I also studied fashion design, I’ve been a stylist, and I’ve done some modeling… so all these things that I studied… it’s all injected into Valentina. Although I might not have the experience as a drag queen… I have my years of love and passion for the stage, and there’s nothing I’d rather be than an artist. My lack of experience be thrown out the window because I’m experienced in the arts. My ultimate goal was to always be a superstar. Through drag I can be the most powerful version of myself… it doesn’t matter if I have the experience, because I have the passion.

You actually haven’t been doing drag for as long as some of these other queens, right? Why do you think it comes so natural to you?

Where would you like to see your drag career go from here?
This is only the very beginning. I’m so very blessed to have lived this experience to catapult me to have such a huge following… This was my moment to be discovered. My ultimate dream and goal moving forward is to become the face of drag in all of Latin America!